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October 18, 2011

Did Jesus Claim to Be God?

People say Jesus never claimed to be God. Jesus never used the sentence, "I am God," but He did make this claim in a number of ways. He claims to be one with the Father. He claimed to be "I AM" - a name uniquely associated with God. Sometimes a good way to see what Jesus was claiming is to note the reaction of the Jews around Him.

The Jews were monotheists. They took blasphemy very seriously, and claiming to be God was the highest blasphemy. They accused Jesus of blasphemy on several occasions. He was tried and convicted of blasphemy by the High Priest, which is why they asked Pilate to crucify Him. They rent their clothing at His claims.

In Matthew 9, Jesus tells a paralytic that his sins are forgiven, and the scribes said He was blaspheming because only God can forgive sins. Jesus then proves His authority to forgive by healing the man. He proved His claim to be God.

There are a number of ways Jesus claimed to be God and that is exactly what his audience of Jews understood Him to be doing. Watch their reactions.

Comments

In Matthew 11:10, Jesus Identifies John as the messenger of Malachi 3:1:

This is the one about whom it is written,

BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER AHEAD OF YOU,
WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY BEFORE YOU.

Malachi 2:17 goes like this:

You have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet you say,

How have we wearied Him?

In that you say,

Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and He delights in them,

or,

Where is the God of justice?

Then YHWH of hosts replies in 3:1

Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,

says the LORD of hosts.

Jesus is the one for whom John was preparing the way. The events surrounding the Baptism of Jesus show that this was a point that they publicly agreed upon. Now Jesus says that in doing so, John was fulfilling the prophecy of Malachi 3:1. But Malachi 3:1 says that YHWH sent the messenger to prepare the way for YHWH Himself. By referencing this passage in this way, Jesus isn't just saying something about John. He is saying something about Himself. He is saying of Himself: "I AM YHWH".

Notice also that in His reference to Malachi, Jesus uses the personal pronoun "I" where YHWH in Malachi speaks of His sending of the messenger, and "You" where YHWH speaks of the messenger's preparation of the way for YHWH Himself. This is Trinitarian language. There is a person that sends and a different person that the sending is for. But both persons are the One God, YHWH.

Jesus also accepted worship on multiple occasions, including before giving the Great Commission in Matthew, and when Thomas affirmed him as "My Lord and my God" he affirmed that statement and said blessed are those who haven't seen (what Thomas saw in the Resurrection) and believe.

Jews would only worship God and if Jesus accepted worship as God then he was clearly making a statement about his divine nature and identity.

Hebrews 1:6 And again, when he (God) brings the firstborn into the world, he says, ‘Let all God’s angels worship him.’

I know the Hebrews passage isn't Jesus making the claim, but it has God commanding worship of Jesus, and we know that one of the commandments is to worship nothing but God.

Yes. If you look at how New Testament authors use the Old Testament, you'll find yourself literally tripping over claims of the full Deity of Christ. It's all over the place. The NT author refers to Jesus as "the Lord" and quotes an OT passage doing so, but then when you look at the OT passage, you find it referring to "the LORD", i.e. to YHWH.

It's just inescapable. Even the liberal scholar's favorite book, Mark, begins with just such an identification...again regarding John the Baptizer's status as the one who prepares the way for YHWH-Jesus. Ironically, the liberals favor Mark because they think it paints Christ as less divine.